Question:What is Fractional Reserve Banking?Answer:It's a Federal Reserve mechanism that allows affiliated US banks to loan out money at a 10/1 ratio to the amount of deposits in the bank, something gambling casinos cannot do in the running of their businesses as they must have enough cash on hand to cover all the winnings their customers make on any given day. In banking parlance, this is called 100 percent reserve banking where loans are fully covered by on hand cash, something that never happens in any bank allied to the Fed in the US. Because of FRB, banks generate money from nothing due to the fact the promise to pay off a loan is considered as "good" as cash which enables banks to create more loans to other people at the Fed's approved 10/1 ratio. (Note: Each loan can be ramped up 10/1.) Upon learning this little known fact about banking, one readily surmises that interest on loans becomes the real money maker here, not the principal, a concept that escaped yours truly for many years until now.

Click on Paul Gagnon'sexplanation as to why Money as Debt, forms the basis of our very strange financial system this country has had since 1913. It will blow you away.

Addendum. Click here to read Mike Whitney's latest blurb about banks. It will warm the cockles of your heart.

For mortgages, houses, as everyone knows, are used as collateral for all categories of buyers. As long as the housing market was hot, sub primers could sell their houses at a profit (to pay off their loans) and move on while SP lenders reaped enormous profits even though the financial base on which their monies were made consisted of vapor at best. When the housing market collapsed, the now worthless SP securities of deposit, which were converted into Collateralized Debt Obligations (aka Toxic Waste) and plugged into many different kinds of derivatives, (somewhat risky financial instruments sold to investors designed by hedge funds, investment banks and banks, among others, to generate additional income) not only destroyed entities like Bear Sterns and Fannaes Mae & Mac but also polluted investment portfolios located in countries all over the world.

Water, water everywhere. We know what it is, right? Well...it depends.

For example, water cannot be compressed, it's less dense when frozen and it exists in three states (gas/liquid/solid) within a very moderate temperature range and, according to researchers, quantum effects are the reasons why.

The part that really rocks my world is the implication of just how easy it would be to eliminate the Constitution if another 9/11 happens as the security system, built in sync with the surveillance environment, is ready to do the deed if the right circumstances arise.

The stuff of dreams continues with the recent Salon articles detailing the Bush Administration's historic abuse of power with particular emphasis on again, you guessed it, unbridled surveillance, the linchpin for all dictatorships whether it be 1984, Soviet Russia or the emerging superpower, China.

To get another take on spying US style, click on the above image to get specifics on how various US agencies work together to get the goods on us with impeccable coordination. After reading this, one learns Enemy of the State has nothing on how the real thing works in the real world. To read BRT's analysis, click here, you won't be disappointed.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Visual perception, as one should expect, is also influenced by culture as seen by a prescient study done in the mid sixties titled The Influence of Culture on. Visual Perception. Click on the title to see why it's such an awesome read (Note: it's in PDF). Another informative take on this fascinating topic can be done by clicking on the grid.Of course, to see the artistic side, Escher comes to mind...